Asus Zenfone Max Plus (M1). No cell service with PM SIM

[Lorr3]

I moved my Public Mobile Sim card from my old phone to a new Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  However, I am not receiving any phone service and not able to connect. WIFI does work. The SIM card toggles on and off and is unavailable. The PM SIM card works well in my old phone and I have tried other SIM cards from other providers which work in my new ASUS phone. However, my PM SIM does not work with the Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  I've contacted ASUS and they said the issue is not with the phone but with the provider PM. Any suggestions?

[buchaneer52]

I have an Asus Zenfone Max Plus (M1) in which I have been using a Bell SIM with no problems. I decided to switch to PM but when I inserted the PM SIM it's recognized but it keeps losing the connection. This is a dual SIM phone so I tried it with 2 SIMs ( PM & Bell) but neither would stay connected. They both flash the carrier and phone number for about 5 seconds, then no connection, then keep cycling through this. I can receive a call on either network while it's active but then I lose it.. I tried switching the SIM cards, going with a single card in slot 1 or 2 and the only thing that works is with the Bell SIM inserted by its self. The PM SIM works fine in my iPhone so the SIM is working.

[computergeek541]

These Asus phone don't play well with Public Mobile.  Asus is passing the buck here.  The problem is with the sofware on the phones, and not anything to do with the carrier.  There has been repeated talk about strange things with network connectivitity.  Also, reports of these phones not being able to connect to the network surfaced after the most recent software udpate.

Things such a misconfigured cellular network could prevent the phone connecting to the network, yes.  We saw this back in the days of Mobilicity, a situation in which they had incorrectly set up the network and a bunch of different phone models (most notably the Nokia N8, among others) could not connect.  However, that isn't the case here as a Koodo sim card worked;  Koodo and Public Mobile use the exact same network.

Since you bought your phone from Best Buy, I'd suggest your best course of action would be to return it for a refund.  You can then choose a different phone model.

[Lorr3]

yes. it works fine in my old phone.

[Dunkgirl]

@Lorr3That phone has a lot of mixed/poor reviews, including comments regarding strange network connectivity issues which you can confirm as it works with koodo but not PM and they are the same network. willmyphonework.net does not list it or any of the 3 submodels. Based on the poor ratings it has I would spend that money on something else and get more bang for my buck. I would always feel like my phone is going to break in the near future even if it started working. Best buy has a good return policy and Xiaomi sells better phones for less money. 

[stonechucker]

Koodo is the same as Public Mobile.

[ShawnC13]

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@Lorr3 wrote:

. I only tried two other providers. It worked on both Koodo and Rogers

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It is weird that your PM sim works in your old phone but not the new and a a Koodo sim does work in the new one.  Have you put your PM sim back in your old phone to make sure it is still working fine?

[Lorr3]

. I only tried two other providers. It worked on both Koodo and Rogers

[ShawnC13]

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@Lorr3 wrote:

I moved my Public Mobile Sim card from my old phone to a new Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  However, I am not receiving any phone service and not able to connect. WIFI does work. The SIM card toggles on and off and is unavailable. The PM SIM card works well in my old phone and I have tried other SIM cards from other providers which work in my new ASUS phone. However, my PM SIM does not work with the Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  I've contacted ASUS and they said the issue is not with the phone but with the provider PM. Any suggestions?

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The other networks it worked on were they Rogers Fido or Chatr?  It could be that it only has the the ability to run on the old cell network that Telus doesn't use anymore

[Lorr3]

Tried that also with no success.

[skifan]

This phone has two SIM slots.  Is there a possibility you need to install into a particular slot and configure the phone appropriately?

[Lorr3]

ASUS said the opposite. That other SIM cards from other providers worked so it is the cell provider and not the phone.

Try that and it did not work.  

I tried a Koodo SIM card and the cell service worked right away.

[Anonymous]

 @Lorr3

Also, the fact that the SIM works in another phone says that the service is fine and that it is in fact the phone.

Can you manually scan for networks to find Public Mobile then choose it?

[Lorr3]

Bought it from BestBuy Canada

[Dunkgirl]

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@Lorr3 wrote:

I moved my Public Mobile Sim card from my old phone to a new Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  However, I am not receiving any phone service and not able to connect. WIFI does work. The SIM card toggles on and off and is unavailable. The PM SIM card works well in my old phone and I have tried other SIM cards from other providers which work in my new ASUS phone. However, my PM SIM does not work with the Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  I've contacted ASUS and they said the issue is not with the phone but with the provider PM. Any suggestions?

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@Lorr3Where did you buy it? Did you get the Global, USA or Taiwan version?

[Anonymous]

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@Lorr3 wrote:

I moved my Public Mobile Sim card from my old phone to a new Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  However, I am not receiving any phone service and not able to connect. WIFI does work. The SIM card toggles on and off and is unavailable. The PM SIM card works well in my old phone and I have tried other SIM cards from other providers which work in my new ASUS phone. However, my PM SIM does not work with the Asus Zenfone max Plus (M1).  I've contacted ASUS and they said the issue is not with the phone but with the provider PM. Any suggestions?

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You had some replies to your earlier posts.

Did you try checking willmyphonework.net?

Or as Carld123 said, maybe you're on Android 8.1.